Weekend tech reading: Anonymous breaches US government sites

Group hacks US law enforcement sites, steals data The group known as Anonymous said it hacked into some 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites in the United States, a data breach that at least one local police chief said leaked sensitive information about an ongoing investigation. The loose-knit international hacking collective posted a cache of data to the Internet early Saturday, including emails stolen from officers, tips that appeared to come from members of the public, credit card numbers... AP

Professors cede grading power to outsiders -- even computers The best way to eliminate grade inflation is to take professors out of the grading process: Replace them with professional evaluators who never meet the students, and who don't worry that students will punish harsh grades with poor reviews. That's the argument made by leaders of Western Governors University, which has hired 300 adjunct professors who do nothing but grade student work. The Chronicle

Special report: Here's Fusion processors, AMD's 2012 model mobile According to information from the last sale in July, 1.5 million Fusion LIano processor performs and raise the level of 7-8 million projected by year-end sales figures, AMD, laptop's computing market, to offer next-generation Fusion processors to market gained acceleration in 2012, aims to consolidate. AMD is prepared to update the entire product line with 2012... DonanimHaber (translated)

Defcon lockpickers open card-and-code government locks in seconds To open a door fitted with the latest U.S. government-certified lock from high-end Swiss lock manufacturer Kaba, an employee must both enter a code up to eight digits long, then swipe a unique identity card coded to comply with a new standard that requires an extra layer of security, one designed to track individual staffers and make covert intrusion harder than ever. Forbes

Microsoft readies 22 patches for Windows, IE next week Microsoft said it will ship 13 security updates next week to patch 22 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Windows, Visio, and Visual Studio. Next Tuesday's patch lineup is larger than July's on the update count, but matches last month's vulnerability total. That's unusual, since the company usually delivers a heavier load in even-numbered months. PCWorld

Nvidia drivers giving 2010 MacBook Pro owners Lion upgrade headaches Users of last year's MacBook Pro models with Nvidia GPUs are finding the upgrade to Lion to be far less than perfect. Problems in the NVidia graphics drivers that shipped with OS X 10.7 appear to be at the root of kernel panics and system freezes that leave an affected MacBook Pro with a blank black screen. Ars Technica

Time Warner Cable’s porn problem: It Isn’t selling enough Big cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable keep saying they don’t see Web video cutting into their business: Even if people are watching more Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, etc., it’s not hurting cable, say the cable guys. But there’s at least one big, dirty exception. AllThingsD

Comcast rolls out $10 Internet access for low-income families As a condition of Comcast's acquisition of NBC, the folks at Kabletown have created Internet Essentials, which offers internet access to low-income families for $9.95/month so long as they meet certain criteria. To be eligible for the program, the family must... The Consumerist

Pod cars, moving silently at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 Travelers passing through Heathrow Airport have an opportunity to experience the not-so-distant future of airport transportation systems in Terminal 5, where a curious row of pod cars connects the terminal’s two business parking lots. NY Times

Verizon unions strike as contract talks fail About 45,000 Verizon Communications Inc. workers began a strike after failing to reach agreement on a new contract with the second-largest U.S. telephone company. The contract expired yesterday at midnight. Bloomberg